Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 9:26 AM

1. Caltrans officials hid revelations about defective welds on the new Bay Bridge and fired an inspection firm because it had repeatedly raised objections to the welds, the CoCo Times$ reports, citing a new report commissioned by the state Senate. Caltrans officials also ordered inspectors to not put their objections in writing — in an effort to keep the objections from being disclosed to the public.

2. An Oakland Raiders’ cheerleader filed suit against the team, alleging that it has been paying Raiderettes less than $5 per hour in violation of the law, the Chron reports.

3. BART police reform efforts following the fatal shooting of passenger Oscar Grant in 2009 apparently didn’t address training issues that might have prevented the killing of a BART cop Tuesday by one of his colleagues, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. It remains unclear why BART police officer Michael Maes shot and killed fellow officer Thomas Smith while they and six other officers were searching an empty one-bedroom apartment in Dublin.

4. California’s legislature will now be led by two elected officials from Southern California — Assemblywoman Toni Atkins of San Diego and Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, the LA Times$ reports.

5. And Governor Jerry Brown is proposing that the state’s general fund issue a loan of $29 million to California’s financially troubled high-speed rail project, the LA Times$ reports.